Oceania: Review and Self-
1. Environment: Oceania faces a host of environmental problems and public awareness of environmental issues is keen. Global climate change, primarily warming, has brought rising sea levels and increasingly variable rainfall. Other major threats to the region’s unique ecology have come from the introduction of many nonnative species and the expansion of herding, agriculture, fishing, and human settlements.
Which parts of Oceania are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change? Which parts of the region contribute the most and least to greenhouse gas emissions?
Why are coral reefs important ecologically, and how are they threatened by climate change?
How have European farm animals and crops introduced into Australia and New Zealand affected the economies of those countries? What is the purpose of the Dingo Fence? Has it worked?
How do foreign patterns of consumption affect this region, and what are the threats to Oceania’s food security?
2. Globalization and Development: Globalization, coupled with Oceania’s stronger focus on neighboring Asia (rather than on its long-
What does Asia buy from the Pacific islands, and what are Asia’s trade connections to Australia and New Zealand?
How does the loss of preferential trading ties with Europe affect the region’s workers and tax revenues?
What sector is the basis of most economies in this region?
Explain why many Pacific Islanders can be said to have subsistence affluence despite having rather low monetary incomes.
3. Power and Politics: In recent decades, stark divisions have emerged in Oceania over definitions of democracy—
How do ideas about the proper exercise of political power in the Pacific islands differ from those in Australia and New Zealand and some Europeanized islands?
Where and when did the political philosophy known as the Pacific Way develop?
In what situations has the Pacific Way been invoked?
4. Urbanization: Oceania is only lightly populated but it is highly urbanized. The shift from agricultural and resource-
Why, despite its low average population densities, is the region highly urbanized?
Which parts of Oceania are both densely populated and threatened by climate change?
What kind of cultural impact is urbanization having in Oceania?
5. Population and Gender: In this largest but least populated world region, there are two main patterns relevant to population and gender. Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii have older and more slowly growing populations, and relatively more opportunities for women. The Pacific islands and Papua New Guinea have much more rural, younger, and rapidly growing populations, with fewer opportunities for women.
Contrast the population growth rates in Australia and New Zealand with those in Oceania. In which parts of this region is the aging of the population of most concern?
Which parts of this region were among the first in the world to grant European women the right to vote?
Describe the possible changing gender roles of Pacific island women over the course of their lifetimes.
What are some reasons for Oceania’s relatively small overall population?